Google
(NASDAQ:GOOG) isn't content to simply attack Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) and
Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) desktop hegemonies with Chrome Operating System, the
company's lightweight Web operating system for laptops.
A
recent patent filing by the search engine giant hints that it might build
desktops and laptops based on its Android software, which to this point has
been limited to smartphones, tablets, and the occasional household appliance or
other odd device implementations.

Patently Apple said a new Google
patent suggests functionalities similar to Apple's Multi-Touch Trackpad and
Magic Trackpad. That is, capabilities for trackpad operations corresponding to
touch-screen events.

Specifically,
trackpad operations may be directly mapped to touch-screen events and processed
by applications. In one implementation, a user may move a single finger on the
trackpad device to cause a displayed pointer to move on a display device of the
computing device.
The
user may also touch or tap a single finger on the trackpad device to deliver a
simulated touch-screen finger tap at the current pointer location as displayed
on the display device.
Patently
Apple showed a diagram from Google's patent depicting a computing device that
may be configured to map trackpad operations to corresponding touch-screen
events.
As
one would imagine, the multitouch trackpad instantiation would work similar to
the trackpad, albeit with two fingers instead of one. Users could drag, scroll,
fling or even pinch-to-zoom content much as they would on a tablet computer.
However, this technology would also be used in netbooks and laptops.
Patently
Apple speculated that Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) could expand its support for Android
beyond smartphones to power Ultrabooks with its "Haswell" processor
chips, designed to create harmony between notebooks and tablets, in 2013.
A
Google spokesperson was noncommittal about the patent filing, telling eWEEK: "We file patent applications
on a variety of ideas that our employees come up with. Some of those ideas
later mature into real products or services, some don't. Prospective product
announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patent
applications."
IDC
analyst Al Hilwa said mobile and desktops are converging, with the real battle
being fought between congruent end-to-end developer and device ecosystems built
around these platforms. Ultimately, this means Google, Apple and Microsoft will
be stomping around in each other's sandboxes.
"I
have no doubt that Google will eventually push Android harder into other form
factors," Hilwa told eWEEK.
"Android
device makers and developers would love this opportunity to expand their reach
and leverage their invested skills. Chrome OS may be seen as a play in this
area, but its pure Web approach does not really leverage the app economy in the
same way Android does. In many ways you are seeing Google respond to
Microsoft's serious effort to take the PC into the mobile world by moving
Android to the PC world."